Freuds had held a global brief with the firm for around two years, reporting to global CMO Mariano Dima, who is based in London.

However, the new brief is smaller, and only covers the UK, with HomeAway having bulked up its internal PR function, including new hire Gretel Perera, who works on global PR. HomeAway was acquired by Expedia at the end of 2015 - and another Expedia brand, Hotels.com, has also recently been reviewing its UK PR needs.

At least eight agencies were invited to pitch for the account in recent weeks, PRWeek understands. Freuds is not among these.

HomeAway also works with Kwittken in the US.

Freuds declined to comment, and told PRWeek that HomeAway would also not make any statement.

Several attempts were made by PRWeek to contact HomeAway's press team in the US, where it is headquartered, but no response was received.